Times Up
by Craftman88
Summary: New Chapter. The stranded men of the Dominion 222nd Infrantry continue their battle, but things are getting worse and worse.
1. Chapter 1

15 to 20 men had gathered around the large screen. Their faces seemed disturbed and some even shocked. Other marines began to make there way over to the screen to ask what was happening. They didn't have too. They just stared at the UNN Anchor, now understanding the shock of the others.

"**-**_**Launched a full scale attacks, spreading to all outer rim planets. Casualties in the millions**__"_, the screen flashed to a female reporter. " _**Moments ago, the Zerg attacked a Dominion military ba**__-"_, the screen went fuzzy, but with a heavy smack to the operating console, the picture resumed.

" _**New Exclusive video footage confirmed the Queen of Blades is in fact leading the swarm**_." the following footage silenced the men.

20 minutes later

The 60 or so men were quick to cut the chatter as Captain Harris marched in fully suited up in his combat suite into the main mess hall. He marched up to the front and began, " **Well boys, you've all seen reports. The Zerg are back on the move. Orbital Command has assured me that tight patrols are being kept up in orbit, so if any attempt is made, we'll be given ample time to prepare. In the mean time Dominion High Command has ordered all Armed Forces to be put on high alert. The Emperor himself is giving a mandatory attendance speech tomorrow morning. Be here at O five hundred hours. In the mean time, get back to your bunkers. Dismissed!**"

The Captain leaned up against the short wall that connected each bunker. The red dusk was beginning to fade as the planets two suns filtered behind the distant mountains. He heard footsteps behind him and Sergeant Deacon appeared at his side. Both gave a greetings nod of the head.

" How long do you think we have Deac?" the Captain spoke.

" Two, maybe three weeks; if even that." Deacon replied.

" I wish it was the old days. When only men killed men. It was a lot easier." the Captain spoke grimly.

He continued, " We've made it this far. We'll get through it, like we always do. Most of the time its just barely, but we'll still make it."

The Captain chuckled, " Remember when we'd sneak into McPharnet's corral and tip his cows?"

Deacon grimaced, " Ya, I've got the buckshot scars to prove it."

The two old friends laughed and watched the failing twilight.

" _**and now my Brothers, I speak to you not as a ruler or distant tyrant, but as your Commander in Chief. I tell you know we must be united in heart, mind and purpose, more than ever before**_. ", The stern face of Mengsk covered the entire screen.

The Captain was shaking his head, " Lying Bureaucrat. I'd like to see him out here on one of these bunkers.

Mengsk continued, " _**This plaque that has been set upon us, this time will not sweep us aside. It will no longer be feared, no longer will it succeed. It will be utterly and completely destr-**_"

The huge projection screen turned to static, with no image at all. The Captain glanced at Deac, who simply gave him a shrug. " Corporal Tanners, get to the Comms Center and sort this out. We would all hate to miss out on a single word of our "brilliant" Leader." the Captain's sarcasm was more than easily picked up.

10 ten minutes later, a nervous looking Corporal Tanner came jogging back. " Um…Sir, I think you need to come see this", he spoke have stuttering.

Leading the way, Corporal Tanner lead the Captain, Sergeant Deacon and Sergeant Deanson to the Comms Center. Upon entering, an erie silence had filled the building. The Captain immediately spoke sharply to the Comms specialist, " Williams! As tech. Specialist, I expect you to be able to do your job. Now quickly, tell me why I had to walk all the way here to deal with the problem!"

Williams spoke with a frightened voice, " Well sir…it seems that the signal has been disconnected."

Captain Harris's face seemed lightly annoyed, " Then reconnect It." speaking as if the answer was obvious.

" Well sir, its not just that. We've lost contact." the specialist's voice seemed to waver.

Corporal Deanson finally spoke, " What do you mean, Lost contact with who?"

Williams glanced around at the other Comms Personnel, who refused to look at any of the 3 men's eyes. Then slowly, with a reluctant face, Williams announced, "Everyone"


	2. Chapter 2

The Captain started to speak, but was cut short by the familiar sound of the drill alarm. Immediately a soldier appeared, "Sir, a sentry on the tower saw something". In a swiftness, that even surprised Deacon, the captain shoved the soldier out of the way and made for the tower.

The Marines had begun gathering at the base of the tower. " Oh don't worry about it Captain. It's just Private Eisenhower, he probably saw his own shadow." Spoke a marine, followed by a chorus of laughter.

Private Eisenhower was the klutz of the Company. Several times due to "weapons malfunctions" he'd almost killed other marines, including the Captain himself. Unfortunately, he was also afraid of basically anything that moved. To make things worse, of all days, he was on Sentry Duty.

Deacon and Deanson caught up with the Captain as he started up the stairs of the tower. The 3 men made their way up to the top. A Corporal snapped to attention as they filed up on to the platform. Private Eisenhower was still searching the horizon. " Private!" The Captain jetted out. The Private jumped, lost his balance and was saved from falling by a swift hand from Deacon.

" Sorry Sir", jittered the startled Private.

" Private, what's going on?" Asked the Captain.

Eisenhower spoke stuttering," Umm…Just to the North below the ridge in the dunes." He handed over the Field Binoculars.

The Captain quickly scanned the red dunes, " Corporal, did you see anything?"

" No Sir", replied the Corporal.

" Well sir, I was checking the ridge when something caught my eye. When I brought it down to the Dunes, I t-thought I saw movement in the sand dunes. It was only for a moment, then it was gone." the private said, standing tall and trying to look brave.

" Who are they?" spoke Deanson pointing out five figures approaching just West of the Dunes.

" Just one of Patrols, they must be late", replied the Sentry Corporal.

" Captain!!" Deacon spoke with urgency in his voice. The Captain followed his friend's gaze towards the Dune, now seeing the same thing.

"Quick, get that patrol inside the perimeter!" yelled the Captain as he turned his comm. mike on.

" Patrol get back to the Perimeter now!" the Captain screamed into the comm.

" Heh heh, alright Sir, don't have a baby on us now." Joked one of the patrolmen.

The Captain spoke angrily this time, " Boy, this isn't a joke. Get your hide back here now or its gonna be mine."

" All right Sir, cool your jets we're on are wa-", the men on the tower watched in horror as a spray of blood fumigated the air around the patrol. The spike receded from the Patrols leading man's head, blood spurting. Immediately spikes shot from the sand all around. The following men's bodies were ripped apart as separate spikes shot out from different directions stripping limbs from the torso. One of the men still even stood by the support of the numerous spikes, but fell as they receded into the sand.

Private Eisenhower threw up over the tower, and the Sentry Corporal stood motionless, unable to pull his eyes away from the gruesome sight.

The Captain knew why. In the battlefield, you'll blast a hole in your enemy, but move on to the next one. You watch as close friends are torn apart, burned to ash, and lose arms or heads, but you keep fighting. The heat of the battle, the adrenaline, and instinct to survive blinds the sanity. But this was different. There was no distraction, no veil. It was all there and it was disturbing, even to him.

" Too arms! Too arms!" Deacon yelled down from the tower. " Get the turrets online and form up in your bunkers!"

10 hours later

He fired another burst and the zergling fell, but another quickly replaced it; screaming and gnashing its claws as it pounded forward. It made it ten more feet, before its legs were blown out from under it, but still the shooting didn't stop. It hadn't for sometime. It was a constant echoed that seemed to puncture even the most remote places of his mind.

" Captain" a voice spoke from behind. He turned to see Deacon entering the bunker. His standard issue white combat suit was barely recognizable beneath the layer of orange-red dust that covered most of the suit.

" How are the men doing?" the Captain asked.

" Uhh…holding, but I don't think we keep this up much longer. We're an infantry company, not siege engineers.

" What's the casualty report?" he asked reluctantly, looking down at a map of the base. It was shaped like an octagon, with the barracks, command center, and sentry tower located in the center. The Coms. Center was placed in the South East corner of the base and bunkers lining the perimeter wall. Then four small dots represented the sensor tower, spaced evenly on all four corners.

" Well…six from the early attack yesterday when they breached one of the bunkers, and four today from lurker attacks when a turret sensor malfunctioned." Said Deacon as he looked out the bunker slit at the groups of zerglings rushing the base.

" Damn them!" the captain bursted and slammed his fist into the wall, with the help of the combat suit, it created a heavy dent, "They promised me air support 8 hours ago. The Willamette should have been here already,"

" A cruiser would be helpful right about now." spoke Deacon, " but at least they're still only coming at us from the North." He made his way on to one of the make shift cots along the wall.

The Captain turned and moved to looked out the bunker window and let out a sigh, " Deacon, What happened back on Candore? ".

Deacon took a deep breath then said, " I prefer to leave those things from the past in my past. You know that."

" Your right, sorry I asked. Well, if we don't have support by tomorrow, we'll leave a detail behind and then move out and try to reach the Capitol."

Deacon quickly got up and spoke, " Would you like me to inform the squad leaders?" the Captain nodded.

He stepped out the bunker, the command center laid behind him. Deacon, then turned, smiled and said, "Stay safe, and don't go die on me….yet."

The Captain started to answer back, when Deacon was suddenly thrown to the right, out of the view of the door, and the Captain was thrown to the floor of the bunker, as deafening groan echoed the twisting and wrenching of metal, as the entire bunker shook. Immediately the Coms. were blasting with the voices of confused marines.

" All units stay in your bunkers, keep the defense alive. Echo squad, detail on Me." he was able to speak. He quickly pulled himself up and ran out of the bunker. He looked to the right to see Corporal Deacon about 20 feet down the stretch of the wall getting up. " I'm alright, just find out what happened", he heard on the Com.

The Captain wheeled around to see a breathtaking sight. An entire section of the wall had been blown away, and a bunker looked like someone had taken a giant can opener too it. The top was nowhere to be seen, and all that was left of the base was the floor and strips of wrent metal.

The members of Echo Squad emerged from the Command Center and gathered to the Captain. " Alright men, quickly look for survivors."

As the squad began searching the debris, the Captain spoke into his mike, " Bunker Eight, did you see anything?"

" No sir, nothings gotten inside our general range of fire.", replied back.

" Sir, we found someone!" rang the mike.

He jogged over to the group still removing debris from around the combat suit. " Marine, what happened?" he asked as he knelt down.

It was one of the recruits, still very young. This was probably his first battle experience, and it might be his last. The marine coughed and blood sprayed from his mouth.

" We didn't even….see it tell the last-" he coughed again and his breath sounded labored. " It was just too fast. Private Vasquez pushed me away from the window, and then it just all-", he was cut short by the Captain as a rugged Deacon appeared with two medics, " It's alright, your gonna be just fine." The medics quickly pulled him on to a field roller and headed towards the command center.

The Captain stood up, " All units, this is Captain Harris, I need you to watch out for a new enemy, it may be faster than the others. These ones are top priority to take out before you take on the other types. Do you get me!", he spoke it as a statement more than a question, but numerous replies responded. Suddenly gunfire echoed from the Southern side of the base.

" Code Red! Code Red! This is Deanson, We've got multiple bogies coming out of the Southern Desert. We need back up n-", the last of the Corporals sentence was drowned out by another deafening boom and the familiar metal screeching and wrenching

The Captain turned to see several fireballs erupting from the South.

" Shit! 1st Platoon hold your position on the North, Half of 2nd plug up the hole, and the others stay in reserve. 3rd Platoon on me to Southern Perimeter. Corporal Deacon take of the North side. Now Go! Go!" the captain yelled in to the mike.

He turned to observe the situation. Despite being dropped in this heck hole of a base, the 222nd Infantry Company was one of the Elite of the entire Dominion Armed Force. Accordingly, the Platoons were moving to their positions with ease and quickly.

The 48 men of the 3rd Platoon were quick to make their way to him. " Alright boys, get to the Southern walls and take positions on the wall and the breaches."

-Point of view of comm. center computer-

CPT -" Deanson, damage report!"

CD2-" Two bunkers down and one barrier breach."

CPT-"Computer"

CCA-" Yes Captain"

Capt.-" How long would it take the Zerg to have circled around the Mountain chain?"

CCA-"Approximately 10 days "

CPT-" That means they must of come from across the Desert. That's not good."

CD2-" Sir, how is that possible. New Andares is straight across on the other side."

CPT-" I know. That's what's not good."

CD2-" Sir, you don't really think they could've hit New Andares?"

CPT-" I don't now Corporal, I just don't know."


	3. Chapter 3

I know my writings not that great. I'm kinda stuck on a slump right now, but i promise the story will get better soon.

* * *

" _Airborne bogies at 3 O' clock!"_

" Boomer Squad, give the corner bunkers fire support. We can't risk those turrets being hit", the Captain responded. He quickly jumped up on the perimeter wall and scanned the battlefield.

The mass of zerg was like an ocean tide. First, they'd quickly jet out in small groups mostly zerglings, testing the range of the rifles, then fall back. Soon after, the whole wall of flesh would surge out like a tsunami. By now aiming was pointless. Simply firing in the general direction of the ravenous tide guaranteed the slugs to hit "something". The distance between the wall and the piles of Zerg bodies was shortening. They were running out of time.

He leaped off the wall and started making his way towards the comm. building, "Deanson, what's goin on with are back door?"

" _Well Sir, We aren't seeing anything, but I'm pretty sure there still there"_

Several loud whooshes signaled the automated firing of turret missiles. Moments later, the screams of dying mutalisks echoed across the base.

" Bunker Teams, report in".

" _Team 12, were holding"  
"Team 3, holding but gettin low on ammo"_

"_This is 8, alls well on our corner"_

"_Team 17, we'd like a cig, and a nice beer if that's not to much to ask for"_

He ignored the comment and continued, " Tower, can you confirm any hostiles out our backdoor?"

"_That's a negative Sir"_

He flipped his helmet visor up and entered the comm. building. A rush of cool air hit his face. _The luxuries of a desk job…wouldn't that be wonderful, _he thought to himself.

Spec. Williams, another comms. personnel, and Deacon, unsuited and in his uniform were gathered around one of the computer terminals.

" Corporal, almost thinkin you've forgotten about us out there", he said jokingly.

The look Deacon returned worried him. He looked at the three men, " So what's going on?" he asked inquisitively.

" Well, its seems our two brain boys here, think they've got an idea", Deacons voice seemed already to be disapproving what ever it was.

"Well then, tell me what it is", he began looking for something to prop himself up against, since everything in the room wasn't designed for a combat suit. Nothing looked promising, so he decided to just stand.

Williams began, " As you know anything we've tried so far has failed. We've tried broadcasting planetary and orbitally. So either the Zerg are somehow jamming our communications or everybody's gone", he took a deep breath and continued, "…hoping it's not the latter, there is one more thing we can do". Deacon had sat down and was looking at the ceiling shaking his head.

The Captain looked back at Williams, nodding his approval to continue. " Well, you see…we could…umm…send out an energy pulse".

" And what exactly is that?"

Deacon looked back at the Captain, " That's what I said", then returned his glance to ceiling

William sighed, " We route and reiterate all excess and necessary magnetic electrical power into one channel leading into the orbital array. Then using that flare, we send an increased electromagnetic wave, which hopefully, will be immense enough to reach even the smallest of wave sensors"

" In English please"

" That's also what I said", this time Deacon didn't look back. "Basically Captain, they want to shut down power on the entire base for who knows how long and use it all to hopefully make us appear as a little bleep on the planetary sensors".

"Woah…woah, hold on a second, you don't mean shutting down the turrets?"

" While since the turrets require a large amount of energy for the sensor pulses, then yes we would need to shut them down".

He looked at Deacon, then Williams, "You're crazy. Those turrets that you want to shut down, are the only things keeping us alive!"

Williams spoke again, " Yes sir, we know that, but if someone picks that signal up, we could have aid in a matter of hours"

The Captain looked at the ground shaking his head, " How long?"

Williams glanced at the Captain with a confused face, " Pardon sir"

The Captain looked up, " How long would it take to get this thing ready".

" I thought you guys were just saying this was insane?" Williams seemed even more confused.

Deacon stood out of the chair and smiled, " Is it crazy? Yes. Idiotic? Definitely. Will it probably get us all killed? Well, most likely, but", he paused, "it's the only idea we've got".

Williams jumped into a chair and after some quick typing responded,

" If everything goes well, maybe…two to three hours."

"_Sir! You better get out here, we've got a hell of a problem!"_

The captain headed for the door, " Get this thing going, and Deac keep me updated". He was momentarily blinded as the doors opened, but with a quick shut of his visors he started the trek to the wall.

Even before he made it to the wall he spotted the pillows of dust rising into the sky. There were either a heck of a lot more zerg coming or worse, Ultralisks.

A marine came out of the nearest bunker. "_Don't say Ultralisks. Please don't say Ultralisks_", he thought to himself,

" Sir, Ultralisks are closing on our position". The Captain started angrily mumbling to himself and headed for his bunker.


	4. Chapter 4

**I do not own Starcraft or any thing pertaining to Starcraft**

If you haven't read the previous chapters, then plz do! It will be getting better and I've seen how much everybody likes UED stories, so I'll try to involve them a little. Review if you'd like, it helps me to know if you like 'em or not.

**Lights Out**

Before it had been scrubbed clean of even the smallest of organisms by the Protoss, Chau Sara had been a decent livable planet. Green healthy plains, lush thick jungles, and thriving settlements dotted the planet. That was all gone now, reduced to ash and cinder. Leaving the planet a desolate, dry and arid wasteland.

Attempts had been made to revive the planet, especially after the discovery that unique minerals formed after a planet was "purified" by the Protoss. The Kel-Morian Combine arrived first, but was soon followed by Reconstructionists and a large-Dominion financed- resettlement colony that established the new capitol- New Andares - over the ashes of the old one. Chau Sara was unique as it had two major suns, Ajer and Bodin, and 1 distant minor sun, Fclaire IV. So the planet had only three legitamate hours of nighttime and 72 hours of daylight.

It was this issue that worried the Captain. The previous two nights the smaller zerg that had been present couldn't make much progress. When night fell this time, it would be the make it or break it point. Even with flood lights dotted along the perimeter the Zerg would be able to move closer and still be out of the eyesight of the marines. If the Ultralisks could get to the wall it was all over. Already, the Ultralisks had made several abrupt charges, mainly to test the firepower of his men, but also who or "whatever" was in charge of these Zerg new the effect they had on marines.

Everything was being prepared for the blackout. Marines were setting up battery operated antennas, machinery, and generators. Others jury-rigging manual fired anti-air missiles on to the Turrets They had 3 hours before night fall and Williams had calculated the blackout and energy pulse would only take 15 minutes tops. Even so he didn't want the Zerg to even begin to realize that for a time the power would be down. The plan was to commence just after a quick meeting with his officers. After eight hours of work all power could now be routed to the Comms. Station.

Williams would begin doing what ever it was he was gonna do. The men would behave as normal, but prepare for any Zerg movement and then with a chance of luck help would arrive. Even though the Zerg attacks had ceased at the moment, the living carpet of Zerg still lingered among the dunes. He jumped down from the observation platform and started his way up towards the Command Center for a meeting with his officers. Already Ajer had disappeared behind the distant northern mountains, and Bodin had only 2 hours left. Then the eerie twighlight of Felaire IV would descend upon the planet, and the Zerg would prepare for their attack. Then about an hour after that, even Felaire would abandon them as well and the pitch black night would descend.

Despite his objections, the engineers had convinced him to turn his suit in to be checked and revamped. He was hoping the meeting would go by quickly, so he could get it back. He felt naked without it.

Two marines snapped to attention as he walked through the entrance of the command center. Instead of heading for the elevator, he walked down an adjacent hallway. Half way down the hallway, a hologram appeared next to him, following his progress down the hall.

" **Hello Captain"**

He gave a nod, acknowledging the building's computer, "Is lieutenant Borska still in his quarters as I asked?"

" He is Sir"

" And the preparations on the reactor we talked about earlier"

" _**Final modifications are 90 % completed"**_

He stopped and knocked at one of the many officer quarters. " Good ", he nodded, " Very good and remember those modifications are between me and you. Nobody else is to know about them and also Inform the others I will be up momentarily. That is all."

"_**Yes sir"**_, the hologram disappeared as the door slid aside revealing Lieutenant Borska. He was fairly young, but still a capable officer. He was one of the " Dominion Sons", fresh recruits, homegrown in the capitol city on Korhal, and taught to fervently serve the Dominion and its Emperor.

" Sir, you wished to talk to me", the young man spoke as the Captain walked inside the room. He managed a smirk at the large poster of Mensgk on the wall. Borsk motioned to a table and set of chairs, but the Captain waved him off.

" What I have to say won't take long. I hope you don't mind, but I'm going to be very blunt. I'm only going to say it once, so you need to listen. Also what is said doesn't leave this room." the captain spoke, his face stern and hard.

Borska gave him a questioning glance and nodded.

The Captain took a deep breath then spoke quickly, " We won't last the night." Borska began to say something, but was silenced by a motion of the Captains hand, " If help does not come by the middle of the night, its over. Personally, I don't believe any relief force is still in the system. And yes, I know that we've all been saying we can do it…but we can't. There are to many of them and they can get to close. While we focus on bringing the Ultralisks down, the lesser Zerg will overwhelm us, or vice-versa. I'm not trying to discourage you, just stating the facts."

The lieutenant interjected, " Sir I must object. We ca-".

The Captain once again rose his hand, and spoke sharply, " Please Lieutenant Don't!", Even Borska understood that the statement was an order, not a suggestion.

The Captain continued, " When I deem it necessary, I will order more than half of the Company to begin to retreat and hold a position a certain distance into the Southern Desert. Once there, you and you alone are to take command, even over any other officers present."

" But what about the Zerg attack from the South"

The Captain looked at him reassuringly, " Took a detail out yesterday, nothing…not a damn thing", he shook his head. " It doesn't make sense, but all I care about is that they're no longer there".

The Lieutenant looked at the floor, " Why do I get the feeling you won't be joining us?"

The Captain responded with a wry smile, " Cause I won't….what I do then is simply to give you others a chance.", his face had turned grim. " Once you have taken command, start heading for the Capitol."

" Why me over Deacon or Deanson? Both are far better leaders than I", Borski shook his head.

" First because both are too stupid and too loyal. We've been through too much. Even if I order them to go, they'll refuse. In the end their fate will be the same as mine, even though I wish it otherwise. Second, you are the only one of the lesser officers I trust. The others will want to be heroic and come back to help fight. Which would defeat the point of the efforts of those who stay."

The Lieutenant looked at the Captain firmly, "You already know the opinions most have about us Korhalians. They won't believe me and with Orbital arrays down, you can't contact us if we're too far away."

The Captain quickly pulled something from a pocket and tossed it to the lieutenant, " A holo-disk of myself, giving you full command of the situation. Now we better get going."

The Captain was entering the hallway, when Borski spoke once more, " Not to be disrespectful or anything Captain, but it won't make a difference; you staying behind and all. Zerglings will catch up with us in the desert, not even half way to the Capitol."

" I was waiting for you to ask about that", he smiled, " Just make sure you get to that certain distance in the desert." The Lieutenant looked at him, confused. " Lets just say we're gonna give 'em a fulminating send off. Me and computer are making sure of that." The Captain left it at that and both men started for the conference.

Captain stood, the rest of the officers following him up. " All right boys, everything's ready and you all have your orders", Even though he wasn't as tall as other men gathered around the conference table, they still seemed dwarfed when compared to their leader.

He could see a mixture of emotions in their faces: anticipation, uncertainty, and especially fear, but none were as important as the trust. Each one respected and believed in him. A sudden wave of guilt and sadness flushed over him. How many these faces would never see another sunrise.

He quickly gathered his thoughts and continued, looking each man in the eye,

" Remember, if we trust in the man next to us and hold dear to the knowledge that we've made it this far, then we already have our victory. We can do this, there is hope." his last remark caught a worried, depressed glance from Lieutenant Borski.

"We can do this", he spoke one more time, mainly in an attempt to convince himself of what he seriously doubted.

" Alright, you're dismissed. Countdown is in ten minutes ", the men quickly filed out of the room, giving the Captain the chance to get back his suit. He swiftly made his way out of the Command Center and to the factory. The engineers, themselves, were already suited up, so with a quick word of thanks he eased into his suit and with his rifle in tow, headed for the exit. He'd barely made it out of the factory, when Williams voice sounded on the comms.

" Captain, we're ready"

He took a moment to survey the base before answering. Everything was perfect. Men going about their daily routines, a token watch force patrolling the bunker wall. A steady hum of generators and other machines. If someone else had just arrived, they'd have had no idea of what was about to happen. Yet in a split second, every single man was ready to be at the wall. He was hoping it wouldn't come to that.

Fleeting through his thoughts, he checked once more that he hadn't forgot anything, then spoke, "Alright, start the timer".

They'd agreed that when the timer started, he would be positioned at the factory and then start walking toward the perimeter to the barricade joining the two central bunkers, where Corporal Deacon would be waiting. When he finally stopped, the blackout would occur 5 seconds later.

For a moment nothing happened, then with a small click, the hologram-timer for 30 seconds appeared on the surface of his visor, and he began to walk.

At first he glanced up, past the hazy dunes, toward the faint outline of one of the Chau Saran Mountain Ranges, only half of Bodin still above it. Already the lowlands were entrenched in the faint light of Felaire IV. Despite the present rust red color of the planet, the gloomy light seemed to turn everything a dark blue. The strange contrast of the shaded lowlands and the bright red mountains was hypnotizing.

He twitched his eyes towards the timer.

_**20 seconds**_

Widening his stride, he glanced around. Every other second, a marine would look over quickly then turn again back to his work.

_**13 seconds**_

He was closing in on Deacon, who had turned and was looking out toward the Zerg position. He quickly came up behind Deacon and hurriedly turned around, looking out at the entire base.

5 Seconds

He took a deep breath and realized that the entire base had frozen. All the men had stopped what they were doing to watch and wait. This was going against his orders, but he didn't care. He was to focused on the countdown. Either the transition from normal power to short term generator power would go smoothly or the Zerg would be on them in minutes. Deacon had come away from the wall and walked up beside him.

3 – 2 – 1 –

Nothing, he couldn't hear anything. The flashing zero's on the timer confirming it must of happened, but then for just a moment he thought he heard a tiny hum go silent.

He looked around, all the men still in their same positions.

Deacon looked at him worriedly, " Did it work? I didn't hear anything."

The Captains face responded with a large grin, " We weren't supposed to, cause neither did the Zerg".

William's voice sounded from the comms, " _We did it Captain, everything's going fine. Should only take about fifteen minutes like I said_".


End file.
